


Oh My Darlin'

by kaylee_wolf



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post-Game(s), So here we are, So yeah, everybody lives but they have bad things happen, i just needed to write a clouis fic, im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:35:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24775498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylee_wolf/pseuds/kaylee_wolf
Summary: Clementine and Louis are trying to keep everything together and everyone happy. There's trouble, but they're able to be happy and life will go on. And the kids finally know peace since the apocalypse happened. Well, most of them.
Relationships: AJ | Alvin Jr. & Clementine (Walking Dead), Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), James (Walking Dead: Suffer The Children)/Mitch (Walking Dead: Done Running), Louis & Marlon (Walking Dead: Done Running), Louis & Mitch (The Walking Dead: Done Running), Louis & Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i miss louis

Clementine woke up to find the room empty besides her being there. She sat up, grabbing her hat and her crutches, taking her time to get stable on the ground. Once she was steady, she took a moment to admire her decorating skills. The lack of change was welcome. Change happened all too often in her life.

She made her way out to the courtyard, happy to see everyone as per usual. They had the greenhouse up and running again, the start of a rabbit farm, clean water, and... everything really. Even the lingering feeling of dread at the thought of it all falling apart was silenced.

AJ spotted her from the watchtower and rushed down to just talk to her. There was no _rush_ behind it, just excitement. Louis noticed and did the same. She had her family, no question.

She smiled, accepting the sudden burst of affection. "Good morning, beautiful," Louis said brightly, the grin on his face even brighter.

"Morning," Clementine responded, almost stumbling over when AJ hugs her. "Hey, goofball. What's for breakfast?"

Louis gestured vaguely toward Omar, who was cooking something in the distance. "You have a better chance of getting the answer from the _pot_."

She laughed, shaking her head. Even after dealing with the Delta, life was normal as can be. It was happy. "Where's Mitch? He's supposed to be working on my new leg," she said amusedly, kicking out her stump. It reminded her of Lee, just a bit.

"Probably back to working on his bombs, or throwing knives with his boyfriend. You have a 50-50 shot."

AJ piped up quickly, "He's in the basement with Rosie."

"Thanks, AJ," Clementine said, leaning on Louis with her bad side to pat his head. "Thanks for trying, Lou."

They both smiled, basically mimicking each other. It was a new favorite thing of theirs to do. AJ ended up running off to join Willy at the watchtower again.

"You want any help getting down there? The stairs are steep and you have trouble with them sometimes."

The concern he held was legitimate and Clementine smiled, smoothing out his jacket. "If you really want to, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Well, milady, I won't turn down an offer to serve you," he said with a bow. It was silly and stupid, but it made her laugh.

Her smile still lingered because there was no reason for it to leave. "You're a dork."

"Aw, but you love dorks."

She rolled her eyes, still smiling, and started toward the basement. From the inside of the school this time. The outside door still gave her chills when she saw it. Granted, the basement, in general, did that, but the door was the worst.

When they were finally down the steps, Louis just waited at the bottom of them, letting Clementine go ahead after he gave her a kiss. Her smile almost literally couldn't fade after that. And Mitch knew why, so he grimaced a bit and rolled his eyes.

"What is it, Clem?"

She stuck out her tongue at him before turning more serious at seeing him wince. "How's your arm?"

"Fine."

Clementine gave him the look. The one that tells him she knows he's bullshitting. "Mitch, you're _allowed_ to be in pain. If you won't rest up when you need to, I'll have to tell Ruby."

"Look," he said with a sigh, "I'm fine. What is it?"

She knew he was still lying, but it wasn't worth the fight if he wasn't going to bother telling her the truth. "How's the prosthetic leg going? Willy told me he found another book about them."

"Yeah, so now I have exactly two books to help me along," he said sarcastically. "It's going. I'm almost halfway there."

She sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll leave you be, but-"

"Rest. I know. Ten minutes and if I'm not up there, you can tell Ruby."

Her smile returned again, "Thanks."

He waved her off and she rolled her eyes. She returned to Louis, who happily helped her upstairs to where she could move by herself. Once back to the overworld, she sighed, hanging her head a bit. "He's not coming up in ten minutes."

"No, no, he's not. Poor Ruby is going to lose her voice one of these days."

Louis gasped, "The southern belle losing her voice? Never."

"Oh, I forgot, she's the goddess of yelling! She would be so disappointed."

He chuckled at her response and grinned. "We should go on a date. When's the last time we did that?"

"Before we went after the Delta. I think..." she trailed off, stopping to think about it. "We never went on another one?"

He grinned, "So?"

"I would never say no to an offer as good as that," she mused, still happily smiling.

They both continued on with the day, Clementine helping with what she could, namely feeding the rabbits and standing watch. She desperately wanted to do more, but the crutches made life hard enough. Plus, Ruby and Louis were up her ass if she didn't rest frequently enough.

So she sat to the side, frustrated that she couldn't just stand up and help like she wanted to. Eventually, Louis took notice and sat with her, acting as if everything was okay. "You okay, gorgeous?" he asked, putting an arm over her shoulder.

"I want to help more. I don't want to just feed the bunnies and sit at the gate anymore. I'm tired of sitting here and doing nothing."

His eyes held some pity, but he just squeezed her tighter. "You wanna talk to Ruby about it? Maybe Vi? Brody?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I just... I feel useless, Lou."

She leaned against him, gently keeping him locked in place. "I know, Clem. I'm sorry. I... really wish I could help."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." She smiled again, wrapping Louis in a hug of her own. "I really like-like you."

He grinned back, "I really like-like you too."

"You're cute."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont usually do 2 updates a day but today is special
> 
> i suffered through seeing Louis suffer ;-;

Considering that spring was upon them, everything was running smoothly. The woods around the school had grown in so walkers couldn't sneak up on them when they went hunting anymore. Not that Clementine could help. Missing legs made walking too hard, particularly through the thick plant life.

It was mostly Louis and Aasim, also AJ on occasion, that went hunting and scouting, everyone else staying behind because of injury or important things needing to be done at the school. And it was immensely depressing when Clementine was left behind because she was so upset and frustrated by the fact she couldn't help.

But being around the other kids helped. Violet needed help getting around, Brody needed help with her depth perception, Mitch needed to be forced to rest before he hurt himself even more. People needed help and she could do that. Leading someone around the school for a half-hour, re-teaching distance, fetching Ruby. It was all something she could do to keep herself busy while Louis and AJ were gone.

However, once they returned, they were able to keep her happily busy.

"Hey, Clem," Violet said quietly, tugging on her sleeve. "Louis and AJ are back. They're super loud, by the way."

She chuckles, "They are."

"God, you fell right into his trap."

Even if she couldn't see it, Clementine stuck out her tongue and led her to the nearest table so she could greet her boys. She rarely got to say hi to them as they did to her. They were faster than she was, so they got the jump on her.

And today was no exception. She wasn't even halfway to the gate before they rushed toward her. She felt disappointed, but it was all lighthearted. Eventually, AJ ran off, which happened a lot more now that they were safe, and Clementine and Louis were left alone.

"So... when's that date coming along, Lou? Got any special plans?" she asked playfully, smiling brightly. "Or is it secret?"

He laughed along with her stealing her hat for a moment to tease her. "Of course it's a secret, beautiful. You can't rush perfection."

"Aw, you're already perfect, you dork. Don't worry about anything else being that way."

He smiled so flawlessly that Clementine swore that she felt her heart flutter just like the first time she saw it. It was so, so _perfect_. She almost fell in love all over again. But that wasn't possible because she was already too deep into it. "You're too good to me, gorgeous."

They heard a groan in the distance and stopped to see Mitch sitting on one of the sofas. "You guys are gross."

"Like you're any better!" Louis called out.

Mitch's face turned pink, but he scoffed anyway. "Shut up. You're gross."

"Ugh, ignore him, Lou," Clementine said, her annoyance faked. "I like-like you, Mitch like-likes James, and we're all gross. Deal with it."

Her beau quietly persuaded her to a couch so she would sit down and he could hold her hand. it was really cute and she didn't stop him. She missed having him constantly with her, even if it was only for a few hours for whatever him and AJ did.

"So, where is the 'walker master'?" Louis asked, fingers laced with Clementine's and head resting on hers. 

Mitch started to pout, wincing when he moved his arm too fast. "He's on his way. He always visits after you guys scout."

As Louis started to tease him, Clementine just smiled. He was acting like a normal teenage boy with a crush and it was... surprisingly normal to be around him when he was like that. It was just odd at first.

And then James actually came through the gate and it was like watching a reality tv show with how stiff the air was at first. Luckily, he got over the awkwardness and almost immediately sat in Mitch's lap.

"See - you're worse!" Louis said smugly.

The two ignored him completely. Which wasn't fair, but Mitch was a hypocrite. So instead of saying anything, Clementine pulled herself into Louis's lap and stuck out her tongue at the boys across from her. It was a competition pretty much every day.

"Now we're even," she interjected, putting her head on his chest.

They pretty much just kept going eventually resorting to bridal carrying and other random gestures of love. It was stupid, but it was also fun and made Clementine forget about the pain she felt in the empty space where her leg used to be.

Eventually, it was lunch and everyone was extremely hungry, so they took a break and sat at the same table as if there was no such thing as a rivalry between them. It was just shitty jokes, handholding, and a relatively peaceful meal before Louis brought out the cards.

But Clementine did steal the deck momentarily. She insisted on playing euchre, even if she didn't remember the rules all that well. Plus it gave an excuse to get into teams and go couple versus couple.

At first, everyone was upset at one another because of how fucked up her memory of the rules were, but it was fun once they got the hang of it, no matter how many of the rules didn't exist or got ignored. And then other people joined in, and it was the entire group together, having fun without pain or hatred.

Even after everything happened, there was some version of peace between Ruby yelling because she was losing and her yelling at Mitch for overexerting his arm. But it wasn't ever from fear or pain. And Clementine pretty much bathed in it.

About a dozen rounds in, the two were pretty worn out. They went off to bed together ready for sleep to consume their every being. But both of them were aware of the process of actually getting to sleep was a long one.

Phantom limb pain, Ruby said it was. And it prevented either one of them from sleeping since Louis couldn't sleep if Clementine was upset and being in pain made her rightfully unsettled. So they stayed up, talking about everything and anything, but mostly just cuddling. Sometimes he would hum songs to her while she fell asleep, sometimes she would do the same.

But they comforted each other. That was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank @stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale for streaming and encouraging this fic
> 
> I've been losing it over these two cuties


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> louis loves his girlfriend

Clementine woke up that morning to find Louis with his arms wrapped around her and face buried in her neck like he usually did when he had a nightmare. Now that she was awake she just ran her hands up and down his back comfortingly. They were alive, the nightmares were just that - nightmares.

He squeezed her tighter as she did that. The comfort was needed and she was glad to give it. Something about comforting him made her all the happier. Just the way he let her comfort him was enough to prove that he'd made progress. He admitted he was used to people just shrugging him off as the funny, piano guy and she made sure to listen even more after that.

It helped them both.

He stirred but didn't move. Neither one of them wanted to leave the room. Life was in the moment, and at this moment they were comfortable.

She still spoke to him, though. Even if he was still asleep that's what she did. "Morning, handsome. I can't wait to get my new foot. And I _especially_ can't wait for our date. And you know what? I like-like you. A lot. And you're cute."

"Good morning, gorgeous," he said gently, still not moving.

She smiled. "Louis." He hummed. "I love you."

He hesitated. They never said 'love' it was always 'like-like'. Maybe it was just some silly, stupid thing, but it was weird to not hear it. And it didn't feel right. "I love you too."

"I know we never say that, but... I really do. I mean it. I just feel like you needed to hear it. Did you have another nightmare?" He didn't respond with anything, but that was normal. It meant that he had one, though. "Well, I had a dream about when we first met. You were such a dork."

She could hear him laugh so quietly and it was almost saddening. "You love dorks," he murmured.

"I do," she assured. 

The day went along as normal. For the most part, at least. Louis had run off after insisting that she help Ruby to keep herself busy. It was weird.

But she did it anyway. There was no point in being bored while waiting and she enjoyed gardening. Keeping the greenhouse manageable was immensely important, especially since the rabbits needed to be well-fed. Granted, that was easier during this time of year, but they still wanted the spare food to be there.

And vegetables tasted so much better now that she knew what going hungry really meant. So she was glad to help tend to them. It was some sort of odd satisfaction she got from managing them.

At one point, Rosie began to nudge at her stump worriedly, whining and licking at it. Clementine smiled, leaning against the planter and scratching the dog's head. Her stumpy tail wagged enough to make her entire body wiggle and she laid underneath the planter happily.

"I still keep starin' and waiting for it to just... I dunno, be there," Ruby said suddenly. There was something written on her face, but Clementine couldn't place it.

She shrugged, balancing for a moment to get her crutches under her arms. "I did that with my finger for a year. Still do sometimes."

"I know, but... every time I see it I remember how worried Louis was. I ain't see him run like that for anything. I mean, we were all scared, but he was the worst, even against your little boy."

Clementine frowned. She knew that he was scared but it still sucked that he ever felt that way. She picked up the shears she had and dropped them off on the corner table and said goodbye. Rosie followed, of course. She went back to her room and sat on the bed, desperate to get off of the crutches and not feel useless. At least she could nap in peace here.

So she did just that.

But, unfortunately, peace was apparently unachievable for her. She shook herself out of a nightmare to see Louis coming through the door with a worried expression. She frowned again.

"You okay, Lou?"

He smiled, so something was better. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay? You never sleep in the middle of the day?"

"I'm just fine. I wanted some peace and quiet, that's all." He tried to look like he hadn't panicked, but she knew better. "So, what'd you disappear to?"

When his face lit up, Clementine knew she said exactly the right thing. He started rambling about how it was a secret for now but he was stupidly excited to show her. "So that means our date is happening today."

"Are you going to tell me what you have planned then?" she asked.

He shook his head, smiling brightly. "Nope."

"Alright, fine, when are we going?"

Louis was basically bouncing in place from the pure excitement he felt. He playfully bowed before he said anything. "We can go now if you're up for it, milady."

"Well, good sir, I am feeling a bit cooped up," she responded, "I'd love to go out."

He helped her get onto her crutches and led her out of the school and passed the gates. She hadn't been outside of the gates ever since she lost her foot. And now she was regretful that she never insisted on leaving the school.

At one point, Louis told her to close her eyes and he would lead her the rest of the way. After a few minutes, he stopped her. "Alright, open your eyes, gorgeous. Surprise!"

The sight was stunning. If Clementine had to pick a word outside of that, it would be perfect. And, to be fair, she knew he spent a long ass time on it. He told her that he'd been working on _something_ ever since she woke up, and she finally realized it was this.

She didn't know where they were, but it was beautiful. It was a treehouse that was probably there even before everything changed but fixed up and fully decorated. From what she could see on the ground, Louis had brought a good chunk of his pillow collection out here too.

"Did you bring your pillows out here?"

He smiled proudly, "I did indeed, milady."

"You're too good to me."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're adorable and i love them

Climbing a ladder was much harder than she remembered. Sure, she was missing her foot, but even then she expected it to be easier than it ended up being. Louis attempted to help her, but she insisted on doing it by herself. When she finally reached the top and pulled herself up to the platform, she sighed.

"Sometimes I have dreams about having my leg back," Clementine said suddenly. "And it's a _lot_ easier to do things when you have both of them." He started to look a bit sad when she said that so she grabbed his hand. "I kind of like it, though."

He shook his head, a small smile returning. "Do you?"

"Yeah. It reminds me of Lee. I like to have something to remember him by, y'know?"

Suddenly, he lightened up and stood, holding his hand out. "Shall we?"

"We shall," she responded, gladly taking his hand and letting him help her inside. "Did you do all this by yourself?"

He grinned proudly as she sat down on one of the many, many pillows. "Yep! Well, uh, most of it."

"I like it. How long has it been here?"

Louis shrugged, "It was here before I first came to Ericson's."

"So, what was your plan for today?" she asked with a grin.

He first brought out a candle, followed by a matchbook. He lit the candle carefully and then pulled a granola bar from his pocket. "Ta-da!"

"Oh! I'm spoiled." She smiled and took half of it when he offered. "Where the hell did you find this?"

Louis held up a finger. "I don't share my secrets so willingly."

"How about a kiss?" she teased, taking a bit out of the granola bar. It was pretty much heavenly compared to what they ate every day.

He chuckled, "Well, I can't say no to a face like that." It was sweet and kind of awkward but they didn't notice.

"Now where in the world did you find an intact granola bar?" she asked, taking another bite and finishing it off.

He shrugged again. "Tenn gave it to me yesterday."

"Oh, that sure is a big secret," Clementine joked, falling back into the seemingly endless pile of pillows. "God, how many of these do you have?"

Louis just laughed, moving the candle a bit before blowing it out. "The last time I did a body count it was a hundred and thirteen."

"That's ridiculous and I love it," she mused. Curiosity eventually got the better of her when he started moving things around more than usual. "What're you messing with?"

He acted as if he had no idea what she was talking about, but she knew he was bullshitting. Eventually, he pulled something out from underneath his jacket just held it for a minute before offering it to her. "Guess what it is."

"Is it a potato?" she asked halfheartedly, seriously attempting to figure it out. "Lou, what is it?"

His smile was contagious. "It's your new leg. Ruby was the one making it, by the way. Mitch hasn't done anything."

"Are you serious?"

Clementine's excitement basically brightened the entire treehouse up and her eyes were almost sparkling at that point. She had no idea _how_ it was supposed to work, but she was ecstatic nonetheless. "As a heart attack, beautiful."

"Louis, you're _amazing_." She trapped him in a tight, celebratory hug. She thought it was the best thing in the universe to get as a present even if she knew it would take months before she could use it as she wanted. "Like really amazing."

He squeezed her back. "Well, I have been told I perform miracles."

"Dork."

Their date was again short, but it was absolute perfection in Clementine's eyes so she didn't care. Granted, anything that would give her more freedom would make it feel perfect. And once they got back to the school, it was even better.

Ruby was pretty much right there waiting and immediately gave both of them instructions on how to properly attach it, how long she could wear it per day, how long it would be before she could wear it full-time, and all of the boring things.

Mostly, Clementine was busy writing down notes to keep her pure, jittery excitement at bay. Not that she could write that clearly. She was barely able to teach AJ how to keep _his_ writing neat. If anything, she was lucky she didn't have school anymore even if it was a morbid thought.

Once Ruby rewrote Clementine's notes, she left them alone but ensured them that she would be keeping an eye on the two. "So... do you like your present?" Louis asked with his hand clasped in hers.

"You're kidding, right?" she responded, brow raised. "I love it."

They began attempting to follow the instructions that they had. And once dinner came, they actually achieved something. It wasn't the best contraption in the world, a bit short and not sturdy, but it was better than nothing and they could work on it.

It got Clementine one step closer to her previous freedom. _That_ was what mattered.

The first few steps she took were wobbly and uneven, but she was walking on her own. Even if it was just for a few feet before Louis had to hold her up. It was hard to keep the celebration on the inside, but luckily she didn't have to. AJ caught a glimpse of her on her own two feet and suddenly everyone knew.

"Clem!" he called out excitedly, basically bouncing off the walls. "You're walking!"

She smiled, "I sure am, kiddo."

The surge of praises and encouragement wasn't asked for, but she needed it. She could do so much more now, and it only added learning how to walk again. There was something about having everyone around you no longer holding pity in their eyes that was inspiring.

Clementine looked back toward Louis at one point to see him grinning proudly and she joined him in his pride. She was going to be pleased with herself, even if she ended up falling a few times. After all, failure was a learning experience.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love these cuties SO much

The next couple of weeks consisted of modifying Clementine's new prosthetic until it was pretty much perfect. Granted, it was missing a boot, but the damn thing was sliced through and she never asked James what he did with it when he found it. It would've been nice if she could still have it, though.

Life was still, remarkably, normal as can be. It was nice that they didn't have to worry for the moment. But everyone was expecting _something_ to come along sooner or later. Another boat full of Delta, a group of bandits, hell, maybe even whatever group was making Richmond to the coast a war zone. And yet there was nothing.

Today was hunting day, though. Deer started to pass by the school when everything was quiet, so they figured they could try to get one. Aasim and Mitch were going to go this time to check if the traps had snagged one and if not attempt to follow the tracks.

Meanwhile, Clementine was walking along the walls inside the admin building. AJ followed her to make sure that she didn't fall on her ass and break something. Which, admittedly, would be hard to do by just falling over.

Louis was in the music room attempting to _actually_ tune the piano based on lessons that he had almost ten years ago. It was going. Not necessarily well, but going.

And once Clementine got tired, she made her way to the piano to sit on the bench and watch his frustration grow, at which point AJ left to go on patrol. She found it cute. His brows were furrowed and he kept tapping on the worn wood out of annoyance.

"Louis," she said brightly. He hummed but didn't look over to her. "You're adorable."

That broke his frustration and he smiled. "You want me to take a break, right?"

"It helps to walk away and come back later. Especially with chess, but it should work with a piano." She smiled when he slid onto the bench beside her and began to mess around with the keys to test if his tuning did anything. "Go on, play something. Either that or I can beat your ass at chess."

He held his hands in faux surrender with a grin. "As you wish, your royal highness."

"Why, thank you, Sir Louis," she responded brightly, giggling at the silliness of the exchange.

He began to play as Clementine rested her head on his shoulder. The peace went unbroken for a good while and the thing that ended it was a note went bad. Suddenly, the frustration crept back up and he sighed.

"I just remembered I have no idea how to tune a piano," he said.

Clementine chuckled, grasping his hand and lacing their fingers. "I don't either. But we can try."

"You're too good to me, darling."

She poked his nose playfully. "Right back at you."

They spent the next couple of hours attempting to make the notes sound right. Once they figured out how to actually change the note, there was progress. They could get close but it was off enough that Louis couldn't stand it.

He went back to glaring at the instrument and pouting. Clementine called his name and he glanced over to be surprised with a kiss. "Will you stop looking so grumpy? We'll figure it out... eventually," she told him, stretching out her back.

"I think 'eventually' is the keyword there."

She crossed her arms with determination lining her gaze. "Yeah, well, we can do it. Did you ever look through the books in here?"

"Pretty much all of them." He shrugged. "Not many books about pianos that aren't sheet music."

Her hands moved to touch one of the keys. "We'll find one."

"Just the two of us?"

She nodded, standing and carefully getting herself over to the bookshelves. "We'll surprise everyone."

"You _do_ realize I already went through the books, right?"

She ignored him but was stopped short by a very, very excited AJ accompanied by Rosie. The only word they could understand was 'deer' since he was talking so fast. Clementine told him to run ahead and they would catch up, which prompted him to disappear at the speed of light.

She had a small smile left on her face. "Shall we, good sir?" she asked, holding out her arm.

"We shall." He hooked their arms together and they walked along together.

Once outside, they saw that there was a dead deer on one of the tables. And it was gross, but... it would feed them for weeks if Omar could make it into jerky. So the excited chattering was welcome.

Hell, it probably beat what Clementine ended up doing with the train station. This was fresh and would last longer. Not that any of them knew how to make jerky.

Once the excitement wore off, most of the kids wandered off somewhere else. Willy stayed behind to help Omar, but everyone else was told to basically fuck off and let the chef do his job. Clementine insisted on sitting near the fire because she was cold, so Louis followed suit.

"Hey, Lou," Clementine said quietly, lacing her fingers with his. "I've been thinking about cutting my hair."

He placed a kiss on her knuckles. "You'll be beautiful even if you shave your head, darling."

"God, no!" she exclaimed, giggling a bit. "Just a trim."

Louis smiled, "I know, gorgeous, but I mean it."

"Oh, you're far too kind, my good sir."

His hand flew to his chest as he straightened out his back. "Why, of course, my lady."

"Dork."

His laugh made her feel like she gained ten years of her life. "Aw, you fucking love dorks."

"You'll never let me live that down, huh?"

A quick shake of his head, "Absolutely not, darling."

"That's _super_ dorky."

They laughed along together, and it was gross and sappy but still kind of cute. Everyone was pretty much able to ignore it at this point, but it always looked like they were broadcasting how much they loved each other. Not that anyone was complaining.

Even if they thought Louis was a dumbass, he did seem a lot happier and nobody wanted to ruin that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no qualms about using angst. in fact i cant even apologize for this.

In the middle of the night, Clementine woke up to find Louis wide awake and quite obviously upset about something. She rubbed at her eyes and sat up. She couldn't exactly stand on her own, so she instead started talking to him.

"Lou, are you okay?" Her question didn't seem to register. And the more she said the more worry plagued her. Eventually, she gave up on talking and balanced herself, limping along the bed to try and grab his arm. He whacked her away from him in a panic before coming back.

Dread immediately fell into place. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Nightmare again?" she asked as he clasped her in a tight hug. She hugged him back just as tightly. "It's okay. It was an accident."

When he finally let her go, she sat on the bed again and patted the spot next to her. He pretty much fell beside her and almost broke down, hanging on by the slightest thread. "I'm-I'm sorry, Clem. I didn't mean to hit you."

"It's alright, Lou, it was an accident," she said gently, wrapping an arm around him. "You have _nothing_ to be sorry for."

She knew that he didn't believe it, but it helped to be said. "Yes, I do. I shot that lady, I let my best fucking friend do all the hard shit, and I hit you," he whispered, panic still lacing his tone.

"Louis, look at me." He met her gaze, a bit surprised at the sharpness of it. "She was going to _hurt_ , maybe even _kill_ , you. Marlon didn't _want_ you to help him. And I _knew_ you were in an episode and tried to grab you anyway. _None_ of that was your fault."

He couldn't look at Clementine anymore. Even if it was true, he didn't believe it. "I'm... I'm going to head back to my old room. See you in the morning."

Louis attempted to stand up, but her grip was strong and he was pulled back down. "Lou, _please_ don't leave." Her voice was meek and now she was just barely holding onto his sleeve. "I'm just trying to help you."

"I..." he trailed off and looked at her hand that was gently clinging onto him, begging him to stay. It hurt to think that he was about to leave her there even though she asked him to stay. "Okay."

Clementine knew what he was feeling. Even if he tried to hide behind a mask of smiles and shit, she knew that he felt guilt-ridden. It was hard to _not_ see it. She turned to face him and took his hand into both of hers. "Lou, you realize I _love_ you, right? Like, with the strength of a thousand suns."

He hesitated to respond. "I know."

"So what can I do to _help_ you?" she pleaded. She just wanted to help. It was the _one_ thing she didn't know how to do. And that hurt more than anything she'd ever had to deal with.

His voice was almost silent. "I don't know."

"Then can we figure it out together?"

He fell into her comforting embrace, desperate to stop seeing everything wrong he did when he shuts his eyes. The fact Clementine didn't hate him yet felt akin to fantasy at this point. "Okay."

"We'll fix this, I promise."

The disbelief was still there, both of them knew that, but a tiny spark of hope was started. It was small and probably broken, yet... it was still there.

Louis felt that at least one person was on his side. Even if he felt as though he did the worst and became a terrible person, Clementine was there, comforting him and just _being_ there without looking at him like he was a monster. 

Not that he understood why she didn't see a monstrosity when she looked at him.

The thought dug itself a cozy little hole in his mind, digging deeper every time he tried to get rid of it. Pushing itself to be at the forefront of his thoughts. He kept trying to bat it out and keep it away, but he lost each and every battle with it. So he believed it.

And that was exactly why he could never forgive himself.

There was the lingering feeling that there was something he could've done to stop everything bad that happened to them. Marlon, Dorian, Clementine, AJ, his parents... everyone.

_You could've saved them._

_You could've **saved** them._

_**You** could've saved them._ _  
_

_You did **nothing**._

The tears began to fall, but Clementine didn't say anything. She just kept humming to him. The same thing she would do for AJ when he had a bad dream. He'd be lying if he said it didn't work. Eventually, the shouting in his head was reduced to wisps of words that he couldn't even make out.

At one point, he must've fallen asleep because the next thing he knew Clementine was leaning against the ladder. It looked uncomfortable, but she seemed to be at peace, so he didn't try to wake her up.

Instead, he laid there with her and just... talked to her. Like she did for him. At first, the thought that it was stupid ran through his head, but he forced himself to ignore it. His rambling went on for at least twenty minutes before Clementine was unable to hide the fact she was faking being asleep.

She didn't interrupt him, just opened her eyes and listened some more. Once Louis noticed, he clammed up and averted eye contact.

"You can keep talking," she said sweetly. "I like your voice."

He chuckled, his face flushing. "Well, I like yours more."

"You know I'm here for you, right?"

The smile he had fell and he turned serious. "I know."

"Well, you better not forget that," she teased, moving his hair away from his face. "Because I will remind you every single day if you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't be afraid to comment and shit
> 
> i pretty much die with happiness when i get comments on anything i write


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> louis and mitch brotp? yes, yes to all of it
> 
> they would be best friends that just can't stand each other. trust me, i have experience in that field

The day continued on. There was really nothing more to it other than that. Louis put his happy-go-lucky mask back and acted like nothing was wrong. He continued as if he was fine, which he absolutely wasn't. It was aggravating because he needed someone to talk to that wasn't Clementine, but he refused to do it.

She tried to pretend that it wasn't her business. But it was. She cared _far_ too much about him to let this go.

Eventually, she dragged him off to the side, clasping his hands in hers. "Lou, I love you. I _really_ love you."

"And this was brought on by?" he asked, attempting to prompt her. He still felt weird hearing that, but it wasn't bad.

She sighed. It was really hard to do this. But she _had_ to. "Do you tell anyone else about your nightmares?" she said meekly. Her voice was so small compared to how it was normally.

And this brought Louis to hesitate. "I... I don't."

"Will you?" she asked, voice so quiet she could barely be heard. "Even just think about it."

The pleading in her voice was overwhelming. "I don't... I don't know, Clem."

The grip on his hands got a bit tighter, but she smiled. She smiled and brought him into a hug. It was as soothing as it was confusing. "At least it isn't a no," she murmured. "That's all I wanted."

She was obviously much happier at hearing his answer, which was a relief to some extent. However, now Louis had the misfortune of dealing with the anxiety that he was typically able to push aside during the day.

What if they found out about his nightmares and hated him? That was the exact question that ran through his head now. And each time he tried to get rid of it, it buried itself even further in his mind.

Even going about his day as normal was enough to overwhelm him. And someone was bound to eventually catch on. The fact that the person was Mitch was more of a surprise than anything. He was... aloof when it came to other people's problems.

"Dude, what the fuck is up with you?"

Louis couldn't look him in the eye, let alone admit anything. "Nothing is up with me, Mitch. I just feel off today."

"So something is up, dumbass. Jesus, dude, if you don't want to tell me, then tell your girlfriend or some shit." He couldn't help but wince and clutch his arm when he moved a tad bit too fast.

Now he felt obligated to say something. "I... I've been having nightmares."

"Seriously?" Mitch's tone of voice was unreadable, but he could feel the dreaded hatred being prepared. The mere seconds felt like years. "So do we all, you dumbfuck!"

That... wasn't the response he was anticipating, but it was certainly better than the one he _was_ expecting. If anything, it almost made him feel like he could say something and not be despised for it. However, Mitch cut him off before he could even begin to speak.

"You really thought you were the only one? Jesus fucking christ, you're still a spoiled rich kid at heart."

At this point, he felt more offended than anything. "Hey!"

"It's true," he said defensively, "You haven't changed even if it's the middle of the apocalypse and you use duct tape to fix your clothes."

And instead of feeling anxious and upset, Louis was laughing. Not that he noticed the tiny voice had disappeared. It always seemed to go away when he wasn't paying attention to it. "Okay, now you're just being mean."

"I'm always mean, dumbass."

His mind was taken off of his anxieties for most of the day, at least. He got through his watch duty and everything. However, once he laid down and attempted to fall asleep, all of the fear came crashing back down. There was so much that just forced him to have to get up.

As long as he stayed awake, he could keep everything at bay. It was nowhere near ideal, but there was no other solution that he could think of.

However, he forgot that Clementine was pretty much tuned to his emotions now. It wasn't a bad thing, but it meant that she knew exactly why he wasn't trying to sleep.

"You okay, Lou?" she asked, voice quiet and gentle, exactly like the smile on her face.

He forced a smile himself and took her hand when she offered it. "I'm fine."

"Did you want to watch the stars before bed?"

The fact she was so clued into how he was feeling was a bit creepy but also somewhat comforting. "I can do that by myself, darling."

"Ah, but where's the romance in that, my dear," she responded playfully. "Plus, it's nice outside tonight."

Louis found it incredibly sweet that she wanted to stay with him. Plus, they hadn't exactly spent any time alone other than their date and when he had nightmares, the latter which was less pleasant.

He sighed in feigned defeat, "Oh, you have convinced me, darling! Let us watch the stars together."

Clementine giggled, which was adorable. They sat for a few hours, the two taking turns in making up fake star names until Louis spots a few constellations that he recognized. The Dippers and Orion. He mentioned it and was then reminded that his girlfriend had a first-grade education and barely knew how to multiply single-digits.

It sent them both into a fit of giggles.

At one point, they fell asleep because they were woken up by the sun rather than their door being burst open by AJ. The fact that they were up before most other people was more annoying than anything, but Clementine was fine with that as long as Louis got some sleep.

She didn't bother moving, though. There was no point if nobody else was awake and doing things. But at this point, she was just going to relax for as long as possible. Her life had been far too chaotic and the lack of change along with the ability to relax was fully welcome.

However, she mostly just didn't want to wake Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i think this fic would end up Louis-centric? i mean, yeah, but not like this. this is new.


End file.
